I followed the news around Theranos back in 2016 and Jenny and I watched The Dropout when it came out, but after seeing You Can See Everything earlier this month, I decided to actually read Carreyrou’s book. If you weren’t aware of the scandal at the time, reading this book is probably an essential protective measure before watching YCSE. This book might be the most important case study of Silicon Valley venture capitalism from the early 21st C. In the decade that followed this book’s publication, there’s a level of grift that’s unfortunately become almost normal, but the scale of money and hope that were poured into Theranos (and Holmes herself) is still mind-boggling. Carreyrou’s recounting of the company’s story shows how an intense level of recklessness (from inside Theranos and those who partnered with it) enabled a long-running and dangerous fraud.
In retrospect, it feels like such a huge clue that private equity firms with knowledge of the industry never tried to invest in Theranos. So many people were charitable to Holmes along the way, wanting to believe in what she was presenting; her personal magnetism appears to account for a lot of the company’s momentum.